The Wall › Panel 6E › Kentucky › John Bethel Tapp
JOHN BETHEL TAPP
Lieutenant Commander · U.S. Navy
September 6, 1933 – March 23, 1966
Service recordJohn Bethel Tapp, of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, served as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy. He died on March 23, 1966, in North Vietnam, at age 32. His name is inscribed on Panel 6E, Line 43 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 6E · Line 43
Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.
Remember
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Service
- Branch
- U.S. Navy
- Rank
- Lieutenant Commander (LCDR)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Url Pilot (1310)
- Unit (as recorded)
- VA 93 USS ENTERPRISE CVAN 65
- Born
- September 6, 1933
- Home of record
- Harrodsburg, Kentucky (Mercer County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 23, 1966
- Age
- 32
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
12 names on the Wall carry the date March 23, 1966. In March 1966, 564 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 6E, Line 43
- EDMUND LAWRENCE SUDLERSpecialist Four · March 23, 1966
- ROBERT EDWARD BUSHLieutenant Colonel · March 24, 1966
- JAMES MITCHELL CORNETTPrivate First Class · March 24, 1966
- GENERAL WHITEPrivate First Class · March 24, 1966
From Harrodsburg
- HOWARD HADDEN DEANSergeant · January 26, 1967
- STEPHAN LEROY BECHTELPetty Officer Third Class · February 11, 1968
- NATHAN LYEN ROBINSONSergeant · February 25, 1968
- CECIL DAUGHERTYSergeant · September 20, 1969
Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.